Shutdown Hits Normandy, But Some U.S. Landmarks Reopen

War Memorial's Closure Forces Veterans to Scrap Plans—or Climb Cemeteries' Fences; Statue of Liberty and Grand Canyon Back in Business

The U.S. government shutdown has affected war memorials on foreign soil. The D-Day memorial in France, a long way from Washington, has been closed, upsetting tourists and veterans. Photo/Video: Stacy Meichtry

OMAHA BEACH, France—Jim Kosinski sensed something was wrong when he noticed the American flag wasn't flying here on this windswept shoreline, the final resting ground of thousands of U.S. troops who died during World War II's D-Day invasion.

Moments later, the 71-year-old military veteran—who traveled from Ventura, Calif., with his wife to pay homage to the fallen soldiers—saw the sign affixed to the cemetery gate: "Due to the U.S. Government shutdown this site is closed to the public.

"How embarrassing," he said. "Our flag wasn't flying over our soldiers who gave their lives."

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Signs affixed to the gates of the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, which commemorates World War II's D-Day invasion, inform tourists the site is closed due to the shutdown.
Stacy Meichtry

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Though many memorials remained closed because of the shutdown, including the American cemeteries on France's Normandy coast, the Grand Canyon was reopened Saturday by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, in yellow.
National Park Service / Associated Press

The shutdown of the federal government and the subsequent closure of national parks and monuments across the U.S. have forced people to cancel vacations and reschedule weddings. But few visitors to the blustery coastline of northwestern France—where more than 3,000 allied troops died in the first day of the battle to free Europe from the clutches of Nazi occupation—expected to feel the repercussions.

U.S. war memorials on foreign soil, however, answer to the federal government back in Washington. So when the shutdown took effect earlier this month, the Normandy cemeteries closed their gates as well.

Back home, some parks and monuments reopened, at least temporarily, after state and local governments agreed to put up their own money to work around the shutdown. Tourists hoping to visit the Statue of Liberty or the Grand Canyon were in luck: Those attractions were back in business over the weekend.

Government Shuts Down

Chairs and cubicles were empty at the U.S. Army Garrison Fort Lee Management Services budget office in Petersburg, Va. AP

But visitors to Normandy were met by disappointment. For many, the journey marks the pilgrimage of a lifetime. Pricey plane tickets are purchased and hotel bookings are made months, if not years, in advance in order to visit the graves of fallen family members and friends.

"I had groups come to the cemetery who have been planning their trips for a year and half and spending thousands of dollars," said Alan Amelinckx. On a typical day Mr. Amelinckx heads the visitor center at the Normandy American Cemetery. But on Friday—a week and half into the shutdown—Mr. Amelinckx was manning the gates, checking email, and apologizing over and over again as he turned visitors away.

Tracy Jones, 51, and her husband Ken, 55, from Atlanta were aboard a Normandy-bound train from Paris on Friday, worried the shutdown might affect their plans. The couple had thought about calling off their trip to Europe, particularly after Ms. Jones's mother died this month after a long bout with dementia.

But Ms. Jones's 91-year-old father, a World War II veteran who landed on beaches of Normandy, insisted the couple make the trip, delaying funeral plans until they got back. "It was now or never," Mr. Jones said.

The closure is also cutting into the cottage industry of hotels and tour guides who count on the American cemetery to draw tourists. Ever since the shutdown began, the number of tourists visiting the area has begun to ebb.

Michel Mickael, who operates tours out of his black Peugeot van, said he usually shepherds about a dozen tourists a day. On Friday, he had just one. "Everything is blocked," he said.

Lionel Poulard, a 61-year-old driver who was greeting a group of French tourists at the local train station, was more blunt: "The memorial is closed. The Americans are out of money!"

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A billboard near the local train station advertises tours of the beaches or Normandy, including the American cemetery, one of the area's major draws.
Stacy Meichtry

Some drivers are bucking the shutdown, bringing tourists to the memorial gates so that they can scale the walls and roam about the cemetery until they are caught by French groundskeepers.

Peggy Hoffman, 61, and her husband Ted, 65, from Boston, did just that. "There are ways to get around it," Ms. Hoffman said, explaining they climbed over an unmanned fence and toured the cemetery.

Mr. and Ms. Kosinski, the couple from Ventura, didn't have a guide, and reached the cemetery after a long trek from the sandy beach that lies at its foot. Amid rain and wind, the elderly couple took a moment to process the closure. Then they joined another group of Americans in scaling the cemetery's stone walls. "We had strength in numbers," Mr. Kosinski said.

Back in the U.S., the Statue of Liberty reopened Sunday after New York state said it would pay for at least six days of operations. At a news conference in front of the landmark, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, pledged that he would keep the statue open as long as the federal government was shut. "When you close down the Statue of Liberty, you close down a good portion of the tourism that comes to New York City," Mr. Cuomo said.

New York will spend about $61,600 a day to keep Liberty Island open, according to a spokesman for the governor.

The Grand Canyon welcomed visitors over the weekend after Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, reached a deal with Washington on Friday. The state will pay the National Park Service $651,000 to open the Grand Canyon and fund park operations for up to seven days, state officials said.

Utah is paying $1.6 million to open all eight of its national parks and monuments for 10 days starting Friday; South Dakota agreed to pay $152,000 to reopen Mount Rushmore for 10 days beginning on Monday; Colorado will pay $362,700 to open Rocky Mountain National Park through Oct. 20.

Not all states were jumping at the chance to reopen their parks and monuments. In Montana, Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat, told the Helena Independent Record that he wanted to see the entire government opened, not just national parks. He says his state won't pick up the costs.

It isn't clear if states will get all their money back when the shutdown is over, as Congress must approve any reimbursements.

In Washington, crowds gathered Sunday at the World War II Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial, pushing through barriers to protest their closure. The war-memorial protest drew Sen. Mike Lee (R., Utah), Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. The National Park Service said it is allowing "First Amendment-type activities" at such locations.

I feel very uncomfortable reading this. If the so-called govt can close military memorials....then I don't want the govt looking after them. I would gladly give money to the VFW or some other private entity to look after these sacred sites. Actually having our govt dealing with anything "sacred" is no longer appropriate on any level.

The elected leader of our country should have prioritized things to be closed and/or remained open so as not to close national cemeteries, etc. Instead, for purely political reasons, no thoughtful planning was made to lessen the effects of the shutdown, in order to try to embarrass Republicans and have an effect on future voting.I visited the Normandy cemetery to pay my respects to my uncle buried there. The experience was an even more profound appreciation of WE2 servicemen. To think that American citizens were not permitted to honor these heroes is just unacceptable to me. What a despicable and small-minded administration.

If President Obama cannot spend a dime of Federal money to keep the monuments open, how could he keep them open? Wouldn't they be shut down with no funding to keep them open? How can it be his fault? And if he could bypass Congress and get the funds flowing by presidential power, what would the right be saying? Probably the "Obama is recklessly spending your tax dollars for his own personal gain at the polls."

Logan Cheek cites Lincoln as the justification. Lincoln was responsible for a massive expansion of government power and for the extirpation of states' rights. Cemeteries are like museums and art galleries: charge admission, so that only those who are interested in them will visit them, and the charging of the price will ensure that marginal cost equals marginal benefit, and hence efficient provision.

Jim “Pee Wee” Martin, G-506, parachuted into Normandy in 1944. At 0720 on D-Day, his platoon commander, Lt. Turner M. Chambliss, was killed by a sniper. When he jumped into Holland two months later, his plane was on fire. During the Siege of Bastogne, Jim ate snow saturated with cordite, an explosive. Jerry Frey trained as a Vietnamese linguist. After his orders to Vietnam were canceled in October 1972, he served at the National Security Agency.

Jim and Jerry want you to know that our country is committing suicide. Every major issue that confronts our country from sequestration to the necessity for immigration reform, is self-inflicted.

The US government spent $5M on wine glasses this year - you think they would be able to afford to keep these parks open. You have to be a complete fool to not see through the Democrat's charade.What a shame. Where's the MSM on holding Obama, Reid and the other dirt bags accountable?

Of course we had to close Normandy after all it's only the grave site for more than 3,000 Americans, why should we honor their sacrifice when the Army needs to spend $47K for a mechanical bull. After all these are the Benghazi Liar's real priorities.

Closing cemeteries, the White House and National memorials that were build on American blood, just goes along with closing off government access to the people it is supposed to represent. And it is obvious from a lot of the comments Obama supporters are all for it and are aiding and abetting the downfall of America. This shut down is a result of both sides playing politics and the American people are the ones that look like fools for putting those idiots in a position of power to let it happen.

To all of those that worship the alter of the state and Obama as the dear "leader" - One party in the House did not shut down the government. The refusal of the Senate to even consider voting on multiple bills and the refusal of Obama to even talk lead to the impass that partially closed the government.

The decision of what things to close and stop rests with the Executive branch. So if the administration choses to employ 12 security guards to keep people out instead of two park rangers to let people in - blame the administration.

The country has been running without a budget since Obama took office. It is time to actually do what the Constitution mandates.

We've been to Normandy twice, the last being Aug.2012. A moving experience, more than any of the DC memorials (we live in DC area). It is ridiculous that people who have planned their vacations around going to the Normandy battlefield cannot be fulfilled. Yes, you can go to the beaches and the British memorials, but to not see the American cemetery at Normandy is so stupid. There is no place in the world more moving than the cemetery overlooking the cliffs at Normandy. Thankful to those that fought and were there to save Democracy, but shame on those that think Democracy in this day is worth closing these special sites.

Are you Tea Partiers and wrong headed republicans in the United States House of Representatives happy now. Take your disingenuous rhetoric as regards whether or not this is a result of your doing and save it for some gullible down on their luck folk to sell fallacies to. This is absolutely disgraceful. When I was a child I grew up with the men who made it back from this war. They shared their value systems with me in one way or another. You , my dear friends are not on the same page or even in the same volume of the encyclopedia of our nations history as were they. You will go down in history, though, you will go down in history.

The closing of memorials and the refusal to pay death benefits to families of our fallen heroes is a choice this administration made - either tacitly or overtly, but the Obama administration is responsible. Never before in any shutdown have these memorials or deprivations occurred.

If ever there was a sign that our federal government has too much power over us, this is it. As with the spending, the Democrats cannot stop. They have added $7 trillion to the debt in five years and that's without Obamacare which is exploding with disaster and costs. Their ideas don't work and when they fail they only want more money and control - there is an insatiable appetite for power and money. It will not go away on its own.

The answer - lies within the constitution - with a constitutional convention. We need to take back our country.

Hi James, Perhaps we can stay on the up and up w/o slinging pejorative insults..."lying"? definitely not. Lefty - hmm, I voted for Regan twice, Bush 1, and his son twice. Mine are thoughtful observations - I would hope you can do better, using this platform to evaluate issues, not simplistic attempts at personal disparagement.

The shutdown forces tough decisions on the Executive Branch. Someone has to choose between keeping smallpox virus in secure lockup at the CDC, nuclear stockpiles out of the hands of bad guys and staff in Normandy.

This is disgraceful. The executive is keeping essential personnel on duty and their offices open. So, the executive is saying that they regard keeping these sites accessible to visitors as nonessential. Most progressives agree, of course.

Sorry Nancy, but if a temporary government shut down (the 18th in history) could lead the Executive branch to cause an accidental smallpox epidemic and a thermonuclear event, then Barak Obama is even more dangerous and incompetent than previously thought.

unlike sequester cuts that simply cut allotments and allow department heads to use discretion on how to implement cuts, continuing activities under appropriations lapses are determined by statute, specifically The Anti-deficiency Act, which has been around and evolved since the mid 1800shttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antideficiency_Act

Republicans may like to dress up in the American flag when it serves their needs, but it is hard for anyone to argue that cemetery maintenance is an "essential" activity in light of the scale of the shutdown and ongoing, active military operations. If GOP congressman choose, they can pass a law restarting maintenance, but they probably find more value in complaining about it, and it does provide some distraction about why this situation occurred in the first place.

I did not notice that Carney and other White House flacks were furloughed. The incessant PR machine that gives this group its oxygen is surely "essential" - to them. One also has to wonder if Mrs. Obama's many staffers were also furloughed. Did not notice mention of it in our fawning media.

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